Construction of Bibb’s juvenile justice center entering next phase | Local & State | Macon.com

Bibb County officials celebrated another milestone Tuesday morning on the road to completing the long-anticipated Thomas Jackson Juvenile Justice Center.

At the center’s construction site at the corner of Second and Oglethorpe streets in downtown Macon, county leaders held a “topping out” ceremony, a long-standing tradition in the construction industry that usually commemorates the end of one phase of construction and the beginning of another. Currently, the building’s frame is being put in place, and the construction of its outer walls is expected to begin next week.

Officials from the city and county, law enforcement, community organizations and the construction team signed a white I-beam that featured an American flag at one end and a small tree at the other. The tree symbolizes the American Indian philosophy that no man is higher than a tree.

Commission Chairman Sam Hart said the plan is to turn the center and neighboring properties into a large campus that will try to keep the county’s youth off the criminal path.

“I’m glad to see it’s finally coming to fruition,” said Hart, who noted that talks for a juvenile justice center have been going on for at least 10 years.

via Construction of Bibb’s juvenile justice center entering next phase | Local & State | Macon.com.